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Joichiro Nishi
Joichiro Nishi (西 丈一郎, Nishi Jōichirō) is a middle-school (8th grade) veteran of the Gantz world, having arrived there over a year before the beginning of the Gantz. Gantz calls him "Mr. Nishi," which is rather interesting given how informally or derisively he refers to most of the other participants. Name According to some half Japanese fansite his name is Johichiro and in the official Dark Horse translation of the mange he originally names himself Ichiro Nishijo. But when the first mission ends he is called Mr. Nishi by Gantz. Afterwards he is mostly known as simply Nishi.Since he probably was lying when he introduced himself and most people know him as Joichiro Nishi. This is the name we will be using for him. Appearance Nishi has black hair but a green tint in it in the anime. Nishi also has brown eyes and fair skin. In the manga, he is shown with somewhat shifty eyes. Over his suit he wears a loose white hoodie and brown loose trousers. Personality Much like how Kurono started out, he is also selfish and has a Social Darwinist approach to life. Nishi is reluctant to reveal anything about the Gantz or himself, but he runs a web site where he posts information about it (carefully avoiding Gantz's rule about informing outsiders, which would in turn prove fatal). Nishi is known to keep a calm and collect mood throughout the entire series. He is cold and blunt about the facts of the Gantz game, not caring about the other players as he has demonstrated on several occasions, and has actually said this the start, and is often scathing toward others in the game, and can be hostile when angered. He also only cares about getting points, and seems to enjoy manipulating the new players so they are unprepared for the missions and die, in order to make sure they don't steal his kills. After Kaze used his 100 points to resurrect him, he wasn't as openly hostile towards everyone, but still didn't bother helping them. When Izumi was facing vampires in the subway, he'd excuse himself, since it did not involve him and he would get no points from it, although he called Sakurai to tell him about the events, showing that he at least respected Izumi enough to do this. On the Osaka mission, he went off on his own, hunting, not bothering with the rest of his team. He only told them about the doomsday countdown one week beforehand, not bothering to do it before, seeing no reason to. With Izumi Shion, though, he seems to be cordial and talkative with , and though he does not help Izumi in his fight against the vampires, he at least respects him enough to inform Sakurai what is occurring. However, in a recent chapter, much to Nishi's own surprise, he chooses to save Takeshi from an explosion caused by aliens in the apartment after Gantz was hacked. He yells that he doesn't understand what is happening to him, showing that he might relate to Takeshi wanting his dad, just like Nishi wishes his mother was back. He believes he can free himself on his own, and doesn't rely on the other players to help him through the missions. His desire for freedom later changes to wanting to be prepared for the Katastrophe by getting better weapons; showing some power-crazy urges, he states he wants to be the most powerful human in the world upon the tower of the Katastrophe aliens. He has stated he enjoys watching people die, and has been shown using an X-gun to explode a cat for fun. He also is sadistic, after believing he killed Tae Kojima upon the Katastrophe aliens tower, he delights in Kurono's cries of anguish. Yet he acts cowardly and cries for his mom anytime he feels he's about to die. It is also evident that he dislikes society. In the anime, shortly before his death he states that he didn't hate anyone, but he hated society because it was so 'fucked up' and he had difficulty keeping on track. In the manga, he berates Kato for being a hypocrite and tells him that he swears that the people around them are no different from cattle. He then proceeded to say that society have given into the media and that they had stopped and cannot think for themselves and that Kato is no better because he thinks that Kato, like him couldn't care if the people around them just dropped dead. Background It would appear that Nishi and Izumi have a past relationship as "teammates", with Nishi stating Izumi was their leader with their previous team, before Izumi's memory was wiped and he won freedom. Though they do not seem to be friends, Nishi is actually open to talking to Izumi, unlike the other players in the game Nishi interacts with. Nishi's mother killed herself, and he was very upset by this. In chapter 364:Dissonant Resonance, it is revealed that Nishi's father appears to be a homeless man. Nishi's father is describing to his friend that even before she killed herself, Nishi was not quite right. His father says that Nishi killed cats and that they (he and his wife) would find their heads stuffed in bins in his room. He says that one day, after his mother's suicide, Nishi ran away and never came back. He later commits suicide by jumping down from a rooftop, and appears in the Gantz room. In both of Nishi's death scenes, we see him calling out for his mother while crying. This suggests that he was likely very attached to his mother, and that perhaps his mother's death drove him to become a bitter loner in the Gantz game. Plot Gantz/Minus While he was returning from the school, to announce to his mother his excellent results, he discovered the latter, dead, hung in his drawing-room. Tired of her life and her violent husband, she decided to commit suicide. At first refusing to admit reality, Nishi will eventually follow his mother's footsteps and then find himself teleported to Gantz's apartment. At first stunned by all this, he will listen to the advice of Oki and Akari a little reluctantly. Onion Alien Mission Arc Joichiro Nishi is first seen sitting among the other people in the Tokyo room as Masaru Kato and Kei Kurono arrive. One of the people in the room Masashi Yamada then stands up introducing himself, after Kurono, Masaru, the politician Goro Suzuki and the blond guy Takashi Inamori who refuses to talk about his death, Nishi introduces himself as an 8th grader whom fell to his death. A naked girl then appears on top of Kurono. As one of the Yakuza also in the room grabs her to rape her and Masaru goes after them to help her, a mysterious Black Sphere in the room then starts playing an old exercise song and tells them to hunt a little alien, they are then transported outside of the room. Nishi then tells Yamada that it is a game show and that his father is the producer and that they can win 10 million yen if they find the alien. Yamada exclaims the amount and Nishi tells all of them what he told Yamada saying they were hypnotized before coming here by someone who spoke to them before they supposedly died and that they have an one hour time limit to do so. The two yakuza, Inamori and Yamada then run off to find the alien followed by Rice a dog which also was in the room. As Yamada finds the alien and is joined by the other's, Nishi whom is wearing a black cosplay suit turns it invisible and him with it, with a Controller as he watches them kill the kid alien and get killed by the Adult Onion Alien, as these events unfold he is never far away, bidding his time to strike. Until Kurono eventually has beaten the adult alien senseless he offers Kurono the points saying he is just like him. Kurono denies this and Nishi sends the alien away winning three points and bringing all of them who survived back to the room. Kurono and Masaru then demand explanations from Nishi but he is reluctant to answer them and eventually after answering some of them, he disappears by going invisible again. Tanaka Alien Mission Arc Nishi gets into an argument with some of the biker gang that appears in the Gantz room prior to their deployment, with one of the bikers shooting his gun at Nishi. Due to wearing his suit, Nishi is unaffected, and in turn responds by blowing the biker's head off with his own shot. Upon beginning the mission, he seeks to slay a Tanaka Alien through going invisible, but his shot is awry and he kills one of its children, and the alien detects him by using its sonic blast to disrupt Nishi's invisiblity. Forced to take the battle to the water below a bridge below, Nishi attempts to fight the alien one on one, as his invisiblity is consecutively disrupted over and over again by the Tanaka alien's sonic blasts, until he is no longer able to go invisible anymore. The Tanaka alien is able to evade Nishi's blasts and blow his gun away, and then attacks him head-on. Though he is able to punch it away, Nishi's suit maxes out due to the blasts. While imploring the others for help, they are uncertain as what to do due to his previous actions and words, but Kato jumps in the water to help, with Nishi endeavoring to run away from the alien.. The alien catches up to him and blasts him with a blast, seriously injuring him. Though they drag Nishi out of the water, there is nothing to be done for him, and he succumbs to his wounds. Oni Alien Mission Arc Upon Kurono's request, Daizaemon Kaze chooses to use his 100+ points to revive Nishi. Confused by the fact of seeing new hunters different from the ones from the Tanaka alien mission arc, due to his memory only being up until the events occurring in the Gantz room prior to the Tanaka alien mission, thus he is initially surprised, then realizes he died. Questioning Kurono of his motives, he is told that they need information as to what is occurring to them, as humans were able to see the hunters and the aliens this time, and none of them have an inkling as to what is going on. Nishi later expresses his shock upon seeing Izumi, as he believed Izumi had wiped his memories, but Izumi blows him off, irritating him. He then scoffs at the sentimental moment Kurono's teammates are having in bidding him farewell to go back to his normal life. A couple days later, Nishi is seen boarding a subway, and looks pleased to see Izumi in it too. He immediately approaches Izumi and sits beside him, and questions him as to what he thinks of the current Tokyo Gantz team. Izumi considers them useless, and states he needs more weapons for the Katastrophe; he also states he wants to prove Japanese are the best, as Nishi had questioned if it would be better to let some other nation take over. Upon asking if Izumi got his memory back, Nishi looks irked upon being told Izumi doesn't remember him. Suddenly, he and Izumi are approached by two of the vampires, and they immediately go into stealth mode. As the two vampires fire upon them with their guns, they are able to dodge the bullets, and land their hits(Izumi with his sword and Nishi with his gun) in sync, slaying the vampires. Nishi then notes how everyone in the compartment-beside them- was killed, and asks Izumi if it's like this all time, with Izumi saying now and then, and Nishi stating some sympathy, saying that's rough. Noticing more vampires arriving to attack Izumi, Nishi states Izumi is on his own, and that he's out, but wishes him good luck. Later on, while Izumi is battling the vampire legion in front of his apartment, he calls Sakurai, to inform him that Izumi is being attacked by the vampires, and that he won't help him since there are no points in it for him. Sakurai tries to inform Sakata, who has realized that Izumi was the perpetrator of the Shinjuku massacre, and tells Sakurai that Izumi is meant to die, and not to inform any other members of the Gantz Team. Nurarihyon Alien Mission Arc In the battle against the Nurarihyon, Nishi hit the 100 points alien with one of the weapons the Osaka team dropped, but failed to kill it and as a result had his right arm blown off. He returned from that mission alive, and fully restored, and was shown to have earned 75 points on that mission, his first since being brought back to life. Gantz/Nishi Special As a side note, there is a love interest for Nishi in the manga series. She is only refered to as 'Ryo-chan', as shown in the name section of her cellphone in the Gantz: NIshi SP (special). Here, she is shown following Nishi, because a group of people at their school highly disliked the male, saying 'he kills cats'. She followed him, in hopes of taking pictures and proving once and for all whether or not he did so. But when a cat did in fact come in contact with him and he slipped into an alley, she followed him, but he had disappeared, using his Gantz suit. When he revealed himself and questioned her, she confessed non-existent feelings for him as a way of brushing off her stalking, to which he seemed uncaring. Italian Alien Mission Arc At the end of the Osaka arc Nishi received a total of 75 points. He then tells the team that the world is going to be destroyed in approximately one week from now. In Chapter 287, we're given a glimpse of his school life; he being a social outcast who was bullied constantly by his classmates. They even go so far as to throw him out of a window to kill him, coming up with an excuse to say he was "fooling around and fell". The Gantz suit saved his life, and he decided to take revenge on his classmates. Nishi returned to the classroom only to slaughter every single one of his classmates with the exception of one girl who had never done anything to him (she also had a crush on him, although it's debatable if this was an act of compassion or Nishi simply seeing no reason to kill her). While staying in the school until nightfall, Nishi was faced with a hail of gunfire as a Strike Team was sent into the classroom to kill him. Though he managed to kill some of the strike team, he was eventually shot down. He was nearly killed before Gantz began transferring him back to the room. After surviving what is believed to be the final hunt, Nishi receives enough points to have the hundred point menu appear. Instead of bringing back someone who died, he chooses right away to get a second Z gun, he having gotten his first in the recent mission, retrieving it from one of the many dead. The Invasion Begins Arc In chapter 303, Nishi is seen waiting for Katastrophe to commence. At the beginning of the Katastrophe, Nishi and Kato stumble upon each other. Nishi berates Kato, calling him a hypocrite regarding the lives of everyone else around them. Afterwards, after the initial descent of some kind of Mechas, Nishi activates his invisibility. He has yet to be seen after that. Alien Ship Takeover Mission Arc United Rescue Arc In Chapter 328 Nishi is seen for the first time in a while, standing beside the Gantz Ball. Reika asks him how to turn on the Gantz Ball, which shocks him. The ball flies open and Nishi yells at Gantz for being such an ass. The man in the ball tells Nishi that there's no use and tells the others that he'll do anything in his power to help, to which Nishi tells him not to be selfish. After the bombs are removed, Nishi goes on to explain about the guys who transported them. He says they're all Zaibatsu big wigs and they had prepared for the Katastrophe long before it occurred. He goes onto explain that they are planning to take over the world now that America and China are out of the picture, and that all they have to do is defeat the giants. Reika asks him if the ball can be used to communicate with the other Gantz's and the guy in the ball says that it can. When they plan to use the ball to communicate with other Gantzers, Nishi mocks them and tells them how naive they are. When the plan works and they get a response, Nishi is shocked and wonders how they managed to get a response. When the first hunter arrives in the room and greets everyone, he goes to shake Nishi's hand. When Nishi refuses and glares at him, Takeda states that he's at "that age" and that Nishi is a cute kid, much to Nishi's annoyance. He watches as other hunters are transferred into the room. While the others are inside the alien mothership rescuing humans, Takeshi and Nishi stay behind in the apartment. Nishi says that they are all morons who will just end up dying. Takeshi says that his "Papa" will definitely comeback but Nishi says otherwise. This angers the child who ends up back-attacking Nishi, which knocks the middleschooler down. Surprisingly, he does not react against the kid, which demonstrates that Nishi respects (or fears) Kaze, in some way, or does not want to harm Takeshi. When Kurono finds out that they have not rescued that many people and there are still more up there, they try to formulate a plan. Nishi pipes up and tells them to stop acting like idiots. In chapter 340, Nishi and Takeshi are attacked in the Gantz apartment when the Gantz ball is hacked, sending several aliens into the room, while trying to connect to the air compressor room in the large spaceship. Nishi is initially reluctant to fight, but as the aliens attempt to overwhelm him, he fights back. Nishi gets pushed back into the weapons rack on the ball and gets out two guns, shooting and killing most of the aliens in the room. More get sent in and eventually overwhelm Nishi. The aliens blow themselves up, just as Nishi escapes the apartment. Nishi lands on the ground at the foot of the apartment building and it is revealed that he saved Takeshi. He questions his actions and realizes that Gantz was caught up in the explosion. He races around searching for the ball and finds it. To his horror, the man inside the ball appears to have died and has large gashes in his skull, and part of his head crushed in. Destroy the Tower Mission Arc Traveling nearly without destination, Nishi and Takeshi stumble upon a laptop with internet connection. Trying to find out what happen, Nishi access the internet and discover that a hidden human faction (said to be group of Japan's most powerful people) is about to open a final front by attacking the Alien ship's weakness with Gantz technology based very large assault mech (declared to be the largest in the faction's arsenal), piloted by Gantz participants (with some apparently brought against their will, again). Overjoyed, Nishi hack in to get into the game, before get teleported to one the mech to pilot. There he starts hacking at the tower when he's interrupted by Kurono, whom after saving Tae inherits Fra Rarada's will and is trying to prevent the Alien civilization to fall apart; Nishi on the other hand claims to want to go back as the most powerful human being and vows to destroy Kurono. During the battle he intentionally aims at Tae, seemingly killing her, to which Kurono reacts going berserk managing to destroy Nishi's armor. Defeated and in order to be spared and carry on his agenda Nishi claims there's still a way for Gantz to revive the girl but he has to accomplish what he was trying to do since he no longer has an armored suit. Tae had been blown away though, and was holding to the edge of the building, so just before Kurono relenting he hears her voice and abandons Nishi is the tower with Nishi cursing at him. Left in the tower Nishi vows to kill Kurono before ordering Gantz to transfer him back, soon he realizes there's no response and he's left on the tower blowing up, shaking in a corner murmuring for his mom and how he longs to live. The Final Challenge Arc After Kurono fights the Giant Aliens war hero, killing them. The last giant alien soldier commits suicide and the spacecraft starts a self-destruction sequence — Ignoring Kurono's order to just flee away and seek for an uninhabited planet to live on — most part of the hunters escape in the flying bikes. The mothership explodes annihilating all giant aliens remaining. As Nishi was stuck, hopeless, in the top of the tower in his last appearance, is strongly probable that he has been killed in the explosion too, even though his death has not been shown. Abilities & Skills Nishi's style of fighting is to use the controller to turn invisible then sneak up on an enemy, firing a Y-gun to wrap them up and send them away. He has also been shown to carry an X-gun with him also. Though Nishi is seen usually going invisible and is not shown fighting the aliens face to face, he is very clever and cunning, waiting until others engage the aliens, before interfering himself and taking their kills-he has also shown good tracking abilities to go along with this, as he is able to keep track of other hunters and the prey simultaneously . He also is efficient with piloting the Gantz mech suit, and is temporarily able to push Kurono back with it. Nishi is also seen to be able to work in a team effectively with Shion Izumi, when they took down the two vampires on the subway simultaneously. Quotes "Anyone who points a gun at me dies. Got it? Point a gun at me, you die." "I never hated anyone, I just hated society, because its all fucked up, I always felt that I needed to stay on track, but its all fucked up, and thats why I could never stay on track...." The very last quote before he died in Anime,“I had 90 points... 90 points... I just needed 10 more to be free... I was so close, momma...” Differences between the manga and anime * The lie he tells during the Onion Alien Mission differs between the anime and manga. In the manga, he whispered to Yamada that the reward for catching the alien would be 10 million yen and convinced the others that they had been placed under hypnosis and that it was all a TV show made by his father (who he claimed was the producer). In the anime, he immediately announced to everyone that the aliens were real and that they were all hired by a government agency to exterminate the aliens (this was also said in the manga, but only after he told everyone it was just a TV show). In addition, his father, Vice-Minister Nishi, is part of the Cabinet Information Bureau who Suzuki recognizes as someone who never lies and makes the whole group believe him and go along with the hunt (except Suzuki, who still decides to go home). References Navigation Gallery Nishi011.jpg|Nishi's look after being revived nishi11.png nishi111.jpg nishi izumi.jpg|Drawing of Gantz Minus, a novel that takes place before the start of the original Gantz series Category:Male characters Category:Living characters Category:Revived characters Category:Tokyo Gantz team Category:Playable characters in Gantz video game Category:Katastrophe team